Start-up CXA, Fosun group to bring unique insurance and wellness platform to China

Health technology start-up CXA Group plans to collaborate with Chinese conglomerate Fosun International to launch a new insurance platform on the mainland that automates employee health care programmes and creates a marketplace for so-called wellness providers.

Rosaline Chow Koo, the founder and chief executive of Singapore-based CXA, said the alliance will see its operations expand into Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen this year.

The company will directly work with Shanghai Zhongheng Insurance Brokers, a part of the Fosun group.

The development follows CXA’s announcement on Wednesday of a successful Series B investment round worth US$25 million, led by B Capital Group and Singapore's EDBI. Other high-profile investors include Philips Healthcare and RGAx, a subsidiary of the Reinsurance Group of America.

“What we are is an insurance broker with a technology platform,” Koo said.

CXA says it uses health screening and lifestyle risks information, sensors and claims data to predict future premiums. It also designs so-called wellness and disease management programmes. Employees are given a “fixed benefits” wallet to choose the most relevant mix of insurance and wellness services from a wide range of providers, such as gyms and yoga classes, to suit their personal needs.

That enables CXA to pre-negotiate reduced future premiums from insurers for companies that improve their employees’ health.